rest for the dove (haim sabato)

THE HAR ARI EDITION

Maggid Books

Haim Sabato

TRANSLATED BY

Jessica SetbonShira Leibowitz Schmidt

Sabato Parasha.indd 3 7/14/15 3:43 PM

vii

Contents

Preface xiii

Translators’ Notes xv

GenesisBereshit:

I Will Be Hidden from Your Presence 3

Noaĥ: Man of the Earth 10

Lekh Lekha: Pillar of the World 17

Vayera: He Sustains the Living with Kindness 22

Ĥayei Sara: Perfect Offering 27

Toledot: The Elder Will Serve the Younger 32

Vayetzeh: Thus Have I Beheld You in the Sanctuary 37


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Vayishlaĥ: Jacob Teaches Us the Lessons of Exile 43

Vayeshev: Jacob Wanted to Settle Down in Tranquility 49

Miketz: Indeed We Are Guilty 54

Vayigash: I Will Also Surely Bring You Up 59

Vayeĥi: God Will Surely Remember You 64

Exodus

Shemot: Appreciating Kindness 71

Va’era: I Did Not Make Myself Known to Them 76

Bo: You Shall Eat It in Haste 82

Beshallaĥ: This Is My God and I Will Praise Him 87

Yitro: A Great Voice, Never to Be Repeated 91

Mishpatim: Who Revealed This Secret to My Children? 96

Teruma: Nothing Was in the Ark 100

Tetzaveh: And It Shall Be on His Forehead Always 105

Ki Tissa: While the King Was at His Table 110


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Vayak’hel: May He Establish Our Handiwork for Us 116

Pekudei: And You Shall Be Guiltless 121

Leviticus

Vayikra: Calling Precedes Speaking 127

Tzav: It Shall Not Be Baked Leavened 130

Shemini: On the Day of His Heartfelt Joy 135

Tazria: On the Eighth Day 140

Metzora: Good Tidings for Them 146

Aĥarei Mot: Before God You Shall Be Cleansed 150

Kedoshim: You Shall Be Holy 155

Emor: I Should Be Sanctified 160

Behar: He Shall Have a Redemption 167

Beĥukkotai: I Will Not Reject Them 174

NumbersBemidbar:

The Levites Shall Be Mine 183


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Naso: And I Shall Bless Them 190

Behaalotekha: When the Ark Would Journey 196

Shelaĥ: The Land Is Very, Very Good 201

Koraĥ: He Will Draw Him Close to Himself 206

Ĥukkat: From the Wilderness a Gift 212

Balak: That You May Know the Righteousness of God 219

Pinĥas: A Man in Whom There Is Spirit 226

Matot: Cross Over to the Land 233

Masei: You Shall Not Bring Guilt upon the Land 239

DeuteronomyDevarim:

How Can I Myself Alone Bear 245

Va’etĥanan: They Did Well in All That They Spoke 250

Ekev: To Serve Him with All Your Heart 255

Re’eh: You Are Children of the Lord Your God 259

Shofetim: Zion Shall Be Redeemed Through Justice 265


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Ki Tetzeh: One Mitzva Leads to Another 271

Ki Tavo: You Have Distinguished God Today 276

Nitzavim: In Your Mouth and in Your Heart 281

Vayelekh: Strengthen Them in the True Law 286

Haazinu: He Found Him in a Desert Land 292

Vezot HaBerakha: The Heritage of the Congregation of Jacob 297


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Preface

The Shabbat is a day of delight. It conveys a measure of its holi-ness to the weekdays, imbuing them with spirituality and meaning. The weekly Torah portion, parashat hashavua, nurtures a Jew’s thoughts and ideas. From it he spins the threads of contemplation.

Many have written on the weekly Torah portions, among them scholars, thinkers, and commentators. Each one discovers within their pages new meanings, for the Torah is “a beloved hind and a graceful roe” (Prov. 5:19), satiating those who desire to know. For love of Torah, I have also spun threads from my ideas on the weekly parasha, reflecting my own taste and approach. I have intertwined these threads with the explanations of our sages, the sayings of hasidic masters, and homilies of ethicists. I have added shades of color from sources of wisdom and great thinkers, and from this blend I have woven a new garment for Shabbat.

Jessica Setbon and Shira Leibowitz Schmidt rendered this book into English, aided by copy editor Shalom Dinerstein and proofreader Gavin Beinart-Smollan. My gratitude to them all, and especially to Matthew Miller, Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, and Tomi Mager of Maggid Books for their consummate professionalism.


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Preface

I thank God who has bestowed every goodness on me. My hands are stretched out to Him in prayer: May God grant us a life full of love of Torah and fear of Heaven, both of which are called “life.”

Haim Sabato


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Translators’ Notes

Our general goal in this translation was to make this work available to the most general audience possible, while remaining loyal to the meaning of the texts, including Rabbi Sabato’s commentaries and the numerous citations of source material. To this end, we tried to avoid transliterated Hebrew words as much as possible and used the English equivalents, such as “Moses the Lawgiver” instead of Moshe Rabbeinu. When an interpretation relied on a variant meaning of a Hebrew root, we used transliteration and explained either parenthetically or in a footnote. In choosing and emending translations of biblical verses, we tried to remain faithful to Rabbi Sabato’s understanding of the text.

Jessica Setbon Shira Leibowitz Schmidt


Genesis


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Parashat Bereshit

“I Will Be Hidden from Your Presence”

When Eve, the mother of all humanity, gives birth to her elder son, she declares, “I have acquired a man of (et) God” (Gen. 4:1). She pins great hopes on this boy, the first child in the entire world, and names him Cain (in Hebrew, Kayin), from the word “acquired” (kaniti). What does “to acquire a man of God” mean?

Rashi explains, “I have acquired a man with (im) God. When He created me and my husband, He created us by Himself; but in this [through the birth of Cain] we are partners with Him.”1 Targum Onkelos interprets et as “I have acquired a man before (min kodam) God.” In the same vein, Ramban comments, “She said, this son will be for me an acquisition for God, for when we die, he will exist in our stead to

1. Translations of Rashi are taken from The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated, Sapirstein edition, the Artscroll Series (New York: Mesorah, 1999).


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Bereshit

worship his Creator.”2 Malbim expounds, “She desired to dedicate her firstborn to God.”

Perhaps we can propound that this son will repair all of God’s gifts that his parents despoiled. God Himself created them in His image, crowned them with glory and splendor, and gave them an entire world. He brought them together under the wedding canopy, gladdened them, and placed them in the Garden of Eden. “See how pleasant is My world,” said God. “Try not to destroy it” (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:28). He gave them one single commandment to observe. Yet, the serpent enticed them, and they gave in to temptation and realized that they were naked. God then banished them from Eden, to work the land forever by the sweat of their brow.

Perhaps Eve hoped that her firstborn would be “acquired” by God for all his life, and be worthy of rectifying the damage done by his parents and restoring the original state of things.3

Time passes, and it seems that Cain succeeds in both endeavors. Plumbing the depths of his soul, Cain discovers the mystery of sacrifice.4 He feels profound thanksgiving, and longs to pray to his Creator. Cain brings before God an offering of the fruits of the earth. “God pays heed to Abel and his offering. But to Cain and his offering God pays no heed” (Gen. 4:4–5).

The Torah does not specify the reason that God did not acknowl-edge Cain’s offering. Maybe, as Rashi suggests, what he brought was of poor quality. Conceivably, Cain’s sacrifice did not come wholeheartedly. Or perhaps the Torah is implying that being a shepherd is preferable to being a tiller of the ground.5

The Torah conceals God’s rationale because the reason that Cain’s offering was rejected is not the point of the personal test that he faces, nor is it the message that the Torah wants to impart to us through this narrative.

2. Translations of Ramban are taken from Ramban (Nahmanides) Commentary on the Torah, trans. and ann. R. Dr. Charles B. Chavel (New York: Shilo, 1971).

3. In contrast, see Rashi to Gen. 4:1, who says that the pregnancy and birth occurred before Adam sinned and was driven out of the Garden of Eden.

4. See Ramban to Gen. 4:4; Malbim; and Ĥullin 60a, which says that Adam had already offered a sacrifice before Cain.

5. See commentary of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch to Gen. 4:1.


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I Will Be Hidden from Your Presence

Rather, the important question is, what will Cain do after he real-izes that God does not “pay heed” to his offering? How will he behave now, from the moment he internalizes this rejection? This is the essence of Cain’s trial. This is what God Himself seeks to teach Cain and, through His Torah, to make clear to us.

What is Cain’s response? “Cain was very angry, and his coun-tenance fell” (Gen. 4:5). Was he so angry and crestfallen because he desired to see God’s countenance, and his offering was not accepted; or because he was envious of his brother, whose offering was accepted? Is Cain a sensitive person who yearns for God’s presence with all his being, and is dejected because his prayer was rebuffed? Or is he tainted by the negative quality of jealousy, which removes a person from this world?

The first part of the description already suggests an answer: “Cain was very angry.” Where there is anger, there cannot be service of God. An angry person is likened to an idol-worshipper, from whom the Divine Presence withdraws (Shabbat 105b; Nedarim 22b). Cain’s face falls, which is the literal meaning of the Hebrew vayiplu panav. “Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.” The Or HaĤayim (Gen. 4:5) comments that until then, his appearance and countenance had reflected the image of God, but that now his spirit is broken, fallen.

Of idol-worshippers, the prophet says, “When he will be hungry, he will be angry and curse his king and his gods” (Is. 8:21). But the spirit of one who worships God is never broken, and even if he is extremely distressed that his prayer was not accepted, his countenance will not fall. The Talmud (Berakhot 32b) teaches that if a person sees that his prayer is not received, he should pray again, as hinted at in the repetition in the verse, “Hope in God; strengthen yourself and He will give you courage, and hope in God” (Ps. 27:14). One who has sinned should retrace his steps and correct his mistake. Anger, however, is no recourse.

“How can a living man complain [of his troubles]? A man [is responsible] for his sins,” says the mourner in the Book of Lamentations, and continues, “Let us search and examine our ways” (3:39–40). A “living man” has no reason to complain, for “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that evil and good emanate?” (v. 38) A person’s own actions are what lead to punishment, and so it is his


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Bereshit

responsibility to rectify his mistakes. About whom can he complain, and about what? Instead of complaining and growing angry, he should scrutinize his own ways and repent, thereby meriting forgiveness.

Anger and fallen countenance stem from the negative attribute of jealousy, and not from a pious desire to be in the presence of God. The outcome is predictable: “Cain spoke with his brother Abel. It happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen. 4:8).

The mishna (Avot 4:21) teaches, “Jealousy, inordinate desire and [the search for] honor drive a man from the world.” Desire triggered by visual stimuli removed Adam from the world, as it is written, “[The tree] was a delight to the eyes” (Gen. 3:6). Jealousy removed Cain from the world despite the request of his parents, embodied in his name Cain, that God acquire him, and that he stand before God all his life.

Other sets of brothers have behaved differently. God, who can see into the human heart, assures Moses that when Aaron will hear of his younger brother’s appointment to a superior position, not only will Aaron not be envious, but he will be sincerely happy: “When he sees you he will rejoice in his heart” (Ex. 4:14). A verse in Psalms describes the type of relationship that Aaron and Moses had: “Behold, how good and how pleasant is the dwelling of brothers in unity” (133:1). Cain, however, does not rejoice in the acceptance of his brother’s offering. Instead he is envious, which leads to wrath, and finally to his becoming crestfallen – a spirit removed from the Divine Presence.

God cautions him, however, saying, “Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? Surely if you improve yourself, you will be forgiven. But if you do not improve yourself, sin crouches at the door. It has focused its attractive power on you, yet you can conquer it” (Gen. 4:6–7). This is what is edifying in this episode. Instead of being envious and angry, a person should control the evil inclination, which crouches at his door. He should anticipate and confound it. And most of all, he must improve his conduct.

Cain could have conquered his evil inclination. His Creator, Knower of all secrets, asserts as much. But Cain did not listen. He was overtaken by impulse and driven wild with a jealousy that impelled him to kill his brother. Did Cain suppose that after that, God would accept his


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offering? After all, he was a murderer, and from that moment on it would be said of him, “When you spread your hands [in prayer], I will hide My eyes from you; even if you were to intensify your prayer, I will not listen; your hands are replete with blood” (Is. 1:15). Did Cain think that he had made amends for that first transgression, of whose nature we are not told, but which had led to God’s rejection of his offering? This second time he sinned purposely: blinded by jealousy, his only desire was to eliminate his brother.

The mishna (Avot 4:2) teaches that “one sin leads to another.” Every sin that a person commits creates a barrier between his soul and God6 and clouds his vision.7 The light of the Divine Presence no longer shines on the sinner, and he moves farther away, tempted into further sin. Adding insult to injury, Cain becomes, in the words of Rashi (Gen. 4:9),

“like one who steals the Supreme Knowledge,” one who tries to deceive God. Instead of admitting his deed, he denies it, saying, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (v. 9)

Cain’s punishment corresponds to his offense. He spilled his brother’s blood and hid it with earth, and so his curse is carried out through the earth. He “stole the Supreme Knowledge,” in arrogance, as if God does not watch over His world. Divine providence abandoned him, and he was hidden from God’s countenance. Malbim (Gen. 4:12) explains that Cain “was left to circumstances” and became “a fugitive and a wanderer.”

Cain is punished twice, and both punishments are similar to the ones his father received. Adam was cursed through his relationship to the earth; so was Cain. His father was sentenced to expulsion and banishment; Cain as well. But Adam was not totally exiled from the earth; he could still eat bread earned by the sweat of his brow. Cain, in contrast, was thoroughly cursed in his relationship to the ground, as it

6. See Is. 59, and Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 7:7. Translations of Mishneh Torah are taken from Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (Yad HaĤazaka), ed. Philip Birnbaum, ny: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1985. [Translators’ Note]

7. Rabbi Avraham Yitzĥak HaKohen Kook, Orot HaTeshuva (Lights of Repentance) 7:5. See a fuller discussion of this in the chapter on Parashat Ki Tetzeh.


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Bereshit

is written, “it shall no longer yield its strength to you” (Gen. 4:12), nor would it allow him to rest his body.

Cain’s father was expelled, and so was he. Adam was exiled from the Garden of Eden, but he was not completely removed from Eden’s surroundings. Rather, he settled outside of Eden, and the blade of the ever-turning sword guarded the way to the Tree of Life. This explains the understanding of our sages that Adam would still have merited returning to Eden, if he could have proven himself worthy of passing the guard.8 Cain, however, was exiled from every place, condemned to be a fugitive and a wanderer. Everywhere he went, the earth shook under his feet. Radak (Gen. 4:12) comments that he roamed from place to place, “wandering like a drunk.” Providence deserted him, and he was left to the ravages of destiny: “whoever meets me will kill me” (v. 14).

God gave the Jewish people the glory of His name, as it is stated, “Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of God is pro-claimed over you, and they will revere you” (Deut. 28:10). This glory was taken away from Cain, and no one would ever revere him again. God gave humanity dominion over all creatures, as it is written, “You gave him dominion over Your handiwork, You placed everything under his feet” (Ps. 8:7). For Cain, this dominion disappeared. He denied the purpose for which glory and dominion were given to him. They were taken from him because he spilled human blood, which contaminates the earth and banishes the image of God from the world.

The mishna (Sanhedrin 6:5) says, “While a man is suffering [from punishment for having sinned], what expression does the Divine Presence use? ‘I am burdened by My head; I am burdened by My arm!’” This refers to Deuteronomy 21:22–23, which speaks of a criminal being put to death. Even while a criminal is enduring pain, God says, “I am in pain.” How much more so, then, does God feel pain over the murder of an innocent person.

Most importantly, Cain’s right to stand before God in prayer and sacrifice was taken away, as Ramban (Gen. 4:13) explains. This is how Cain understood his terrible punishment, and this is why he said, “I will be hidden from Your presence” (v. 14). He could no longer perceive

8. Sefat Emet to Parashat Bereshit.


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God’s countenance. Prayer means to approach God; if one has spilled the blood of another human, who was created in God’s image, how can he stand before Him? Truly, this is a terrible punishment. How can a person exist without the right to stand before his Creator?

Our discussion began with Eve’s statement, “I have acquired a man with God” (Gen. 4:1), revealing the partnership between humanity and God in the miraculous first act of her creating new life in the world. This segment of the parasha ends with fratricide. It commenced with Cain’s prayer to stand before God, his will to see His countenance, and his desire to bring Him an offering. It closes with the dreadful punish-ment of Cain’s utter expulsion from God’s countenance.

Cain did not succeed in restoring what his parents had ruined; he could not subjugate his instincts. Instead he plunged into a fit of jealousy and wrath. His countenance fell and his spirit disintegrated. Finally, he was expelled from the world.

Adam’s son, who had been the reservoir of such hopes for tikkun (repairing, perfecting), failed. Will another of Adam’s descendants suc-ceed in achieving this tikkun?


rest for the dove (haim sabato)

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